Brussels gets animated

by Aurore Engelen

25/02/2009 - Anima - Brussels Animated Film Festival is underway in Flagey until February 28. The internationally renowned event is hosting three competitions (features, shorts, music videos and advertisements) and prestigious guests such as US comic book illustrator and director Bill Plympton.

The weekend was filled with exciting events, including the animated night, which gave viewers the chance to discover around 40 shorts, as well as unreleased images from the much-awaited A Town Called Panic by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier (produced by Belgium’s La Parti), and from the Gaston Lagaffe series, which is produced by France’s Normaal and centres on the most idle of employees.

Behind the scenes, visitors were able to find out about the successful Belgian studios who work in European animation today, including Victor Studio and Dreamwall. Tomorrow, Walking the Dog and Digital Graphics studios will reveal the secrets of the shoot for The Secret of Kells [trailer, film focus].

This week, the focus is on the competition. Reflecting a global trend, Japan and the US dominate the line-up, accounting for five of the nine selected films. Meanwhile, Europe is represented by Immigrants, the latest title by US-based Hungarian director Gabor Csupo (whose previous film The Secret of Moonacre has just been launched in Belgian theatres); and two Danish works: Jungle Jack 3 by Flemming Quist Moller, who also co-directed, with Jannick Hastrup, the other Danish film A Tale of Two Mozzies (recently released in Flanders).

The shorts section gives pride of place to Belgian productions, with three "C’est du belge" (“It’s Belgian”) screenings, and an original initiative, the "Open Screenings", which gives young non-selected Belgian directors the opportunity to present their films in one of the festival theatres to guests of their choice and other viewers.

(Translated from French)